Miracle
by DeadBehindTheEyes
Summary: During a raid at a drugs den, Tonks meets heroin addict RJ. He's been offered a post at Hogwarts if he can get clean within a year. Can Tonks help him through? Set CoS RL/NT Drug Addict!Remus M for adult content
1. Falling

Title: Miracle (From the song by Shinedown.)

Summary: During a raid on a drug den, trainee Auror Nymphadora Tonks meets a lycanthropy effected heroin addict named RJ. He's been offered a teaching position at Hogwarts, but he has to get clean within a year. Can the young Auror help him fight his addiction and learn to love again?

Set: Start of CoS

Pairing: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks

Rating: M

Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Angst

Warnings: There will be strong language, graphic drug use, drug addict!Remus and possible sexual situations. So if that's not your cup of tea, then the back button will easily get you out of here :)

A/N Firstly, I have to apologise for my absence from FF. My computer has decided to no longer allow me to login to my account, and therefore I've been unable to upload stories, which is, well, shit. Rather lucky that I can now post from my iPod, eh? Anyways, drop me a review and let me know what you think as this is the first time I've written anything in ages and feedback would be muchly appreciated :)

'Remember, keep your head down and your eyes open. These people can be incredibly dangerous.' grunted Mad-Eye Moody. His protégée rolled her eyes and turned to face the elderly Auror.

'Eyes down, head open. Got it.' she replied with a grin.

'Tonks, for God's sake. Be serious. I don't want you endangering the team.' Moody growled, leading Tonks through the ministry to meet the rest of the team of Aurors. Today, they were about to make a bust on one of the largest drugs-rings in Britain. They'd been observing for months and today was the day they went in for the kill.

'I know, I know.' the trainee fixed her face into a suitably serious expression before morphing her hair from violent lime green to dirty blonde. 'Stick to the plan and watch my footing, because falling over in a drug den is not good.'

'Exactly. Now we're hoping to make at least six arrests. That's as long as they haven't scarpered. Wouldn't surprise me...'

As the Auror began to rant about 'bloody addicts' and how they'd 'kill just for their next high' Tonks began to feel butterflies. This was her first dangerous mission and she didn't want to balls it up by tripping over and alerting the people in the house of their presence. Then they turned the corner into the rendezvous point and all her mind focussed on was the mission at hand.

'Right,' Mad-Eye was saying 'we're going to apparate to the hillside close to the house. This way they'll hopefully not see or hear us. We go in pairs: Dawlish and Shacklebolt, Roberts and Williamson, Wood and Sanders and, finally, Tonks and myself. Keep your wits about you, I don't want any of us getting hurt. Okay, go!'

As the pairs began to apparate away, Tonks once again felt butterflies. Then came her turn. She turned on the spot, focussing on the hillside, and almost instantly appeared there.

'Wood, Sanders! You take the back with Roberts and Williamson. Dawlish, Shacklebolt, you're with us. Remember, constant vigilance!' Mad-Eye barked 'Go, go, go!'

And that was it. The group went their separate ways, hoping to prevent the suspects from escaping. There were six in the house, and there would (hopefully) be six in handcuffs and on their way to the Ministry's holding cells by the end of the morning.

As the four of them approached the front door, they heard a loud crash and a series of shouts indicating the other group had entered the house. As if on cue, two men ran out of the front door and straight into the waiting hands of the aurors. Dawlish was left to secure the pair while the other three entered the dilapidated house. It seemed that the other group had secured another three men, with a sixth seemingly passed out on the needle covered floor. The whole place was filthy with magazines, needles and Merlin-knew-what else littering the floor and every available surface. Kingsley managed to wake the man on the floor before handcuffing him and leading him towards the front door with the others.

Mad-Eye turned to the trainee 'Tonks, I want you to go and have a look around upstairs while we secure this lot. But remember, there could be anything up there. Constant vigilance!'

Tonks turned and headed up the filthy staircase. A look in each room showed nothing much of interest, just more used needles. Finally, she got to the last room. A quick turn of the handle revealed the door was locked. Tonks' curiosity instantly spiked. A quick "Alohomora" opened the door, revealing a clean but dark room. A battered guitar rested against the opposite wall and she walked over to have a look. Then, the door shut behind her and she quickly turned to face it, overbalancing and landing painfully on her backside.

'Well, well, well,' said a gruff voice from the shadows next to the door 'What have we here?'

The figure disarmed Tonks before she could properly draw her wand, and abruptly found another pointed right between her eyes. This was definitely not good. If she shouted for help, the man would probably blow her brains out. She therefore thought of the best word the sum up her predicament at that moment:

'Fucknuggets'

Okay, I know it's short. But I promise the chapters will get longer. Sorry about the lack of formatting, I cannot be arsed to work out how to do it on my iPod. Next chapter should be up tomorrow, Sunday or Monday. I'm off to London for the weekend (Studio Tour here I come!) so I'll do a lot of writing while travelling. Toodle-pip!

UPDATE: I can now login to my FF account on my computer so we all know what that means: PARAGRAPHS!


	2. Rock Bottom

_Sorry it's so late, blame school and art coursework. I'd like to dedicate this to WildDragon26221 and Love-To-Review for encouraging me to get my arse in gear, and to my friend Beth for being generally awesome and putting up with my Remus/David Thewlis obsession. And with no further ado, ONWARDS!_

A man stepped out of the shadows. He was tall with sandy brown hair and scars across his face. His eyes glowed amber, making him look somewhat fierce.

'An Auror, eh?' We don't usually get your kind around here. What can I do for you, Miss? He asked with a wry grin.

Tonks didn't bother replying and instead focussed her attention on finding a way to call to the others for help. It seemed that just shouting was out of the question. This mad looked dangerous. She didn't want to find out just how dangerous while she was unarmed. Surely someone would come looking for her when she didn't regroup with them downstairs. She'd just have to keep him talking until then.

Before she could think of something to say, Mad-Eye's voice drifted from below 'Tonks, what's keeping you? Have you found anything?'

The man's expression changed from hostile to worried. 'Is that Mad-Eye Moody?' he asked, a panicked look in his eyes.

Tonks smirked 'Yup. And you'd better prepare yourself. Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him and I doubt he'll mind filling another with a-'

She was cut off by the man's exclamation of 'Oh Christ fucking Merlin on a Holy unicycle!' He proceeded to lower his wand and offer a hand to help her off the floor. 'I'm in enough trouble as it is without getting done for attacking an Auror. My name's RJ by the way, RJ Lupin. Just so you can tell them what to put on my gravestone when Mad-Eye murders me.' He smiled again, this time looking much friendlier.

Tonks took his hand and non-too-gracefully got to her feet, curious about the man's –RJ, her subconscious reminded her- change in attitude. It seemed her knew Mad-Eye. Or he at least knew of him, but then again, most did. Perhaps he knew someone who Mad-Eye had thrown in prison. Maybe he himself was an ex-convict. But before her thoughts could venture further, she was once again cut off, this time by the sound of Mad-Eye slowly thumping his way up the stairs.

RJ handed Tonks her wand with an apologetic smile and turned, beginning to rummage through all the papers on the desk before pulling out a kettle with a triumphant cry.

Just then, the door opened to reveal Mad-Eye, wand raised and ready. That was, until RJ turned around and he dropped it with shock. The grizzled Auror's jaw had gone slack and he seemed incapable of speech.

'Lupin?' he gasped, both magical and normal eye's wide with surprise.

RJ smiled shyly and reached up to rub the back of his neck, looking a lot like an awkward teenager. Tonks suddenly realised his age might not be quite as close to her estimate of late thirties as she'd first thought.

''Lo Mad-Eye. I'm just about to put the kettle on. Would you like a cup? Your friend and I were just getting acquainted. Although she's yet to tell me her name...'

Mad-Eye seemed to have recovered his voice, although he ignored the question. 'Lupin, what are you doing here? Surely you're not…' His voice trailed off as his gaze fell upon a bowl in the corner containing cotton gauze, needles and bags of white powder.

RJ stared guiltily at Mad-Eye, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, the Auror seemed to have realised exactly what was happening.

'Are you bloody mad? What in Merlin's name are you doing with that –that poison?' he shouted 'Why would you do that to yourself, Remus? What possessed you? You'll end up bloody well killing yourself.'

'Have you thought that maybe I don't care?' RJ shouted back 'My friends are either dead or as good as. I can't get a fucking job, can't afford somewhere to live. Hell, I can hardly even afford to feed myself. Death would be better that this so-called life!' His hands were clenched so tightly into fists that his knuckles were white and his palms bleeding. 'I was written off, abandoned by everyone. Thing is, I actually thought they gave a damn. But no, they just forgot about me. But this,' he gestured to the bowl 'This helps. It numbs the pain, lets me escape. That's all I've ever wanted, an escape, something to dull the pain.' He ran a scarred-yet-elegant hand over his face and sighed wearily.

Mad-Eye's expression softened 'Why didn't you come to me Remus? I would have helped you. You didn't have to turn to drugs. I could have helped you through the grief. I would've helped you find a job. I would have helped you through it. All you had to do was ask. Ask and I'd be at you're your side in an instant.'

Throughout the exchange Tonks had been leaning against the wall, observing the two men. She was very intrigued by this stranger; tall, scarred, drug addict and friend of Mad-Eye. It made for an interesting combination and she was very intrigued indeed.

'The thing is, Alastor,' RJ continued 'when you ask people for help then you end up relying on them. And what happens when they're gone, taken away from you? You're fucked, that's what. You end up back in the exact same situation you started in, but with the pain of losing someone. I don't get close to people anymore because I'm fucking sick of being hurt. The people I know are not friends, merely acquaintances. The people I sleep with aren't lovers, simply a relief of tension or a quick way to earn some money. Nobody matters anymore. I can't care about them. They're merely something to be used.'

Mad-Eye sighed before gesturing to Tonks 'Remus Lupin, meet Nymphadora Tonks, who goes by her surname only unless you want your bollocks hexing off. Tonks, this is Remus Lupin.'

'Nymphadora. I rather like the sound of it. It's-'

'It's bloody ridiculous.' Tonks cut in. 'And you'd better stop liking it if you want to keep your genitals intact…'

RJ laughed and then turned to Mad-Eye 'So, what happens now?'

_And that's that. We'll probably be skipping forward a bit next chapter. I'll try and update a bit quicker this time…_


End file.
